


No Cream, No Sugar

by RoseisaRoseisaRose



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Felix Hugo Fraldarius (mentioned) - Freeform, Fluff, Introspection, Pre Time-Skip, idk - Freeform, kind of making up backstory for manuela here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25096546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseisaRoseisaRose/pseuds/RoseisaRoseisaRose
Summary: Rodrigue runs into an old friend while visiting the monastery. When she doesn't show up for breakfast the next day, he waits for her.Written for the Felannie discord drabble challenge; this week's prompt was to use a word generator. I got "Reflect", "Care", and . . . . "Beans." OKAY, I GUESS.
Relationships: Manuela Casagranda/Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius
Comments: 14
Kudos: 31
Collections: Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	No Cream, No Sugar

Rodrigue Fraldarius sat at the end of a long table of the dining hall and was overcome by the unusual sensation of feeling small. The dining hall had long cleared out, first the students and then the monks and then even the chefs, leaving him the lone figure in an enormous space, just him and a plate of food and two cups of coffee. Felix had snapped at him as the students filtered out, heading to their respective weekend missions.

“Get a move on, old man,” he had said, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets as he loped after his friends. “You’re becoming lazier in your old age.”

Rodrigue smiled to himself. Felix was getting much better at acknowledging him in public. He took a sip of coffee and waited.

She stumbled into the dining hall a full hour after everyone left. Her hair was a mess, and Rodrigue wasn’t certain, but he suspected she was wearing the same clothes as last night. She looked towards the empty serving counter in despair, then walked towards it impatiently, clearly preparing to lean over and shout into the kitchen on the off chance anyone was still back there.

“Manuela,” Rodrigue said. His voice was quiet, as always, but she flinched as if Alois had yelled to her at the top of his lungs. She whirled around quickly, but relaxed as soon as her eyes landed on him. She walked over to him with the same efficient, impatient steps, and draped herself over the bench across from him with a dramatic sigh, resting her face in her hands.

“Hullo, Rodrigue darling,” she said, her voice muffled between her fingers. “They said you were wandering about the monastery this weekend.”

“Bad night, Manuela?” Rodrigue asked gently, even though he suspected that he knew the answer.

“ _Terrible_ ,” Manuela moaned, slamming her hands down on the table and leaning forward. “First I got into it with these two guys at the bar about the dangers of the Western church. Then this one guy tried to take me home but wouldn’t even buy me a drink first – said I’d ‘clearly had enough,’ as if he knows anything about me!”

“Mm,” Rodrigue said sympathetically, sipping his coffee.

“Then this idiot knight insisted I needed help walking up the stairs to my room, which I did _not_ , but he wouldn’t even help me into bed once we got there!” Manuela said, pounding the table for emphasis. “Pushy, useless, unchivalrious, scraggly-bearded –” Manuela paused, realization dawning on her. “That was you, wasn’t it?” she said. It wasn’t really a question.

Rodrigue smiled quietly. “I saved you breakfast,” he said, sliding the plate of eggs and toast and bacon towards her. Manuela frowned deeply and looked so nauseous that Rodrigue didn’t argue as she pushed the plate back towards him. “Just coffee, then,” he said. He passed her a cup and she took that more readily, although she grimaced at the bitterness as she took her first sip.

“Goddess bless you, Rodrigue,” she said. “They’re strictly tea drinkers around here these days, but you always knew a good thing when you saw it.”

“I didn’t expect to see you last night,” Rodrigue said as Manuela disappeared into the oversized mug that he’d handed her. Her delicate fingers barely fit around it; he was always surprised at how deftly they sewed and cut at wounds and how confidently she could reset bones. “It certainly made my evening stroll more exciting,” he added, giving her another smile.

Manuela snorted into the coffee cup. “Evening stroll, my left foot,” she muttered, putting the mug down with a final gulp. “I don’t have the clearest timeline but I’m sure it was well after dark. Couldn’t sleep, could you?”

Rodrigue shrugged, taking his own sip of coffee. His own son steadfastly avoided him. Both Seteth and Gilbert made it absolutely clear he was not needed on the mission. Miklan was an unpleasant boy who had turned into a dangerous man. How could he sleep?

Manuela scoffed again, and perhaps he imagined that it sounded kinder, as scoffs weren’t generally kind. “You haven’t changed a bit from the academy, you know that, Rod?” she asked, picking up her coffee cup again. “Always worrying after everyone and everything except yourself.”

“I could say the same for you,” Rodrigue argued back. “I assume being a head physician instead of just an assistant has made you even worse.”

“ _Worse?”_ Manuela slammed her mug down on the table. “I’m the best head healer Garreg Mach’s ever had, thank you very much, _Lord_ Rodrigue. I could heal you with one hand tied behind my back.”

“That’s not what I meant – although I’d like to see that,” Rodrigue said evenly. “All the students left on their missions today, I noticed.”

“So?” Manuela said sullenly, fiddling with her coffee cup, rocking it back and forth on the table.

“So. You picked a strange time for a night out on the town. Trying to keep you mind off things?”

“Well I can’t go _tonight_ ,” Manuela argued. “I’ll be up half the night when those reckless, hotheaded – they think they’re immortal, you know,”

“Your students, you mean?”

“You should know, your son is the worst offender,” Manuela said, brandishing her coffee cup at Rodrigue as if it were a sword. “Last month he came in with a punctured _lung_. Jumped in front of an arrow to save a healer. Absolutely stupid; took weeks to heal and he kept trying to sneak out.”

“It’s important to keep your healers safe,” Rodrigue murmured.

“A good healer can take care of themselves,” Manuela snapped.

“Don’t worry about Felix,” Rodrigue said. He pulled the plate of now-cold food toward him and absently picked up a piece of bacon. It tasted better than he remembered from his own academy days. “The boy’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

“And I’d like to keep his head on his shoulders,” Manuela groused. “I caught him trying to climb out the infirmary _window_ , Rod. These children have no sense. Why are you smiling!”

Rodrigue realized he was smiling, more fully and sincerely than he had in months, particularly when Felix was the topic of conversation. “I’m just – I’m glad to hear my son has someone who cares about him here,” he stammered, suddenly feeling very accused for no reason at all. “You’ve always cared, so much, Manuela. I hope that doesn’t – I hope you’re taking care of yourself, as well.”

“Well, I get by,” Manuela said. “Haven’t found anyone else to take care of me, so . . .” She trailed off, and Rodrigue realized she was staring at the plate of soggy toast and stone-cold eggs, not at him. Silly, he scolded himself, to be jealous of soggy toast.

“I’ll go check with the kitchens about getting you another plate, shall I?” he said, standing up a little too quickly, the bench behind him wobbling from the force.

Manuela brightened at him, and Rodrigue felt like they were foolish teenagers themselves for a moment – or at least, like he was. “I’d love that, Rod,” she said.

He didn’t bother hiding his smile as he walked away.

“And another coffee!” she called after him, but he’d already been planning to get one for them both.

**Author's Note:**

> Listen. It's about reflecting on your past and showing how you care about people and drinking coffee, which, as we all know, comes from beans. I did my due diligence! You try writing a love story about beans. >:-(
> 
> These two are cute?? Wtf these two are cute. I guess I ship Rodrigue and Manuela now; idk, stranger things have happened. Also I don't know what Manuela was doing before she was an opera diva but she had to learn medical skills somewhere so just imagine that she did her apprenticeship at Garreg Mach while Rodrigue was a student. Play in this space with me. I needed a reason for them to know each other.
> 
> If you would like to suggest your own godforsaken rarepair, you can always [ follow me on twitter. ](https://twitter.com/Rose3Writes)


End file.
